Melva Gifford

I find when I do these blogs, there are certain themes. I seem to touch upon frequently. One theme I particularly like is the importance of individual. This week I attended a storytelling meeting where a very accomplished storyteller told us how she use storytelling all aspects of her family life. She gave a personal story that I thought would be a very good launching point for this blog. I hope this topic will be of help to youth ministries, family devotionals, family home evenings and family counselors.

The storyteller talked about her having a special needs child. due to his social challenges, he had little opportunity to interact with other children. Children were nervous around him and would not seek him out. But this mother, an accomplished storyteller, decided to use her talents to remedy the situation. She started having storytelling sessions at her home. She Invited children from around the neighborhood to come and listen. This gave the children the chance to hear some great stories and also provided an opportunity for the children to interact with her son and eventually start to feel comfortable around him. These new friendships became useful as her son later went to school.

I thought this is a wonderful example of how a woman used a skill that she specifically, maybe we can discuss how those tools can be used with those around us to solve a problem. It made me realize that many of us may not take full advantage of our skills and abilities to accomplish many of our own problems. We might even be able to help other situations with friends or family, because of our specific skill sets.

In my congregation, we have the opportunity to meet with fellow sisters once a month. We share religious messages while in each other’s homes. The nice thing about this is of able to share the message of Christ with one another, give encouragement, but we are able to also establish friendships. There were a number of times I’ve noticed how two sisters will establish a particularly strong friendship. Their personalities, interests just seem to jive. Or, two young mothers may hit it off well simply because they both have young children that they can share a common challenge to of the rising of the children with one another.

Objects for lesson: Have a board with a partially hammered nail in the board. Then have a hammer, a screwdriver, glove, and a saw. Have different family members or class members pick up an item. Have each of the children take turns trying to hammer the nail into the board leaving the person with a hammer to be the last one.

No one can successfully hammer a nail into the board as efficiently as a person has a hammer. The hammer can represent specific skill or set of personality types that give us a unique ability to accomplish goals in certain areas.

My invitation is for each of us to gather as a group and start discussion. Point out each other’s specific positive skill or what type of tool we are. Some of our skills may include our friendliness, a good memory, a musical skills. It might be the ability to communicate well with others or to share sympathy. Once we each identified a group of traits. We can discuss possible ways of how those tools or skill sets can be used in the world around us. It may surprise each of us to find what other see to be our individual talents and abilities.

If you have ideas that could contribute to this theme, please feel free to share it in the comment section of this blog. Thanks

Please see link: http://le.utah.gov/~2014/bills/static/HB0096.html

Here are some of the specific lines I’m concerned about: 28-31, 35, 38-39,78, 82, 137,143. The debate of the legislation starts tomorrow. Please take time to review this bill. if you want your representatives to support this, let them know. If you don’t want them to support it, such as I, let your legislators know.

I really don’t want more government control over the education of my nephews and nieces or plan to have the power to dictate what is acceptable by holding the money purse.

Thanks

Melva

It looks like it’s the Y and analyze that I keep spelling wrong. Maybe I can try to use the visual image that when You want to analyze something You look at it. You study it. You try to determine its function. And maybe remembering the Y in analYze will help me remember to spell it correctly

Bad: Analize

Good: analyze

If you have a better recommendation, please share it in the comment section of this blog. Thanks

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a workshop of Toastmasters. During that morning I was able to get some wonderful suggestions on what to consider when evaluating someone else when they give a speech. Some of these comments can be applicable, when giving comments to someone’s fiction and someone storytelling. I hope these recommendations can be of use.

-Why do we evaluate: to help another person so he or she can become a better speaker.
-An evaluation is not about you. It’s about the speaker.
-Read the manual in advance of the speech, so you can see what the objectives are.
-You need to know what the speaker’s personal objectives are as well.
-Don’t get caught up in the speech you need to keep evaluating. When you tell a speaker that you got caught up so much in the speech so you didn’t have a chance to evaluate that is not a helpful evaluation.
-Evaporators should call the speaker during the week prior to their presentation.
-Ask what they want to accomplish in their speech. When you evaluate that speech, remember, they told you what they wanted to achieve, and see if they met their objectives.
-When you listen to a speech dissect it to give a clear positive and useful evaluation.
-An evaluation is constructive feedback that is useful to the speaker. Give specific, concrete feedback.
-Even, an evaluator should be well articulated; by stretching your vocabulary, your comments refresh the evaluation. Don’t resort to the same way of phrasing, say it differently. For example, that was a great speech. It’s just saying great. You might use such words as fantastic a very thought-provoking.
-When you give an example of something that didn’t work, you might want to provide something specific that didn’t work. Instead of a generic comment such as “you should rephrase some of your comments” point to specific comment and maybe suggest an alternative way to phrase it. Maybe indicate a specific hand motion by example.
-Identifiable is the best thing about the speech, if you can summarize the speech the speaker can tell if what you heard was what they intended.
-Recommended websites to learn how to evaluate well, sixminutes.org.
-The growth and development of people is the best accomplishment of leadership
-For the speaker, a speech may work best if you have only one objective.

These final comments were specific to Toastmasters, but still have wise counsel for storytellers and fiction writers. Think of the three monkeys see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil and hero. The following suggestions:

See:
Read the manual and questions.
Know what it is you’re evaluating.
Pay attention to what’s going on.

Hear:
Pay attention
Don’t get caught up in the speech
Don’t stop evaluating.
The most important isn’t always the most obvious.

Speak:
Speak for yourself not the audience
Don’t attack
Don’t discourage
Don’t offend or attack speakers point of view
Describe your own reaction I saw. I jumped. I hope. The only time to reference a speaker is by observation of someone’s reaction
Don’t grandstand doing so can be interpreted as China show up the speaker don’t talk about you.

In a separate meeting at Toastmasters, a member of the club gave some very wise counsel. He said each of us had a specific goal in mind when we joined Toastmasters. So while we’re attending Toastmasters. Give your speeches on the topics of things that interest you that originally motivated you to want to become a good indicator.

If you have additional suggestions on this topic, please feel free to share it in the comment section of this blog.

Many of my object lessons are inspired by the wonderful things I’ve learned at church and today is the same thing. I like the comment in Sunday school that talked that it is a lot easier to change the direction of a moving ship rather than one that is not moving at all. This idea can relate to us striving to live righteous lives, and even though we may not be accomplishing everything we wish to achieve, we still moving. Thus, the message, it’s easier for God to direct a moving ship than one that is not moving at all.

I hope this idea can be of use to youth ministries, family devotionals, family counselors, parents and grandparents and family home evenings.

Have marbles or a lot of similar sized balls on the floor. Have a child or class member slowly roll a ball across the floor, and then another family member or student to start rolling a second ball to intercept the first. When the two balls meet the first ball changes direction do to the impact of the second. Just like we continually endeavored to improve ourselves, our efforts of self-improvement can be more easily influenced by God, when we are trying to move in his direction.

Create a list with the family or class as to what might be a ball or a person’s direction in life. Some examples might be living the commandments. Living our personal covenants that we’ve made with God, try into act Christ-like to name a few.

Now have the family talk about what might be considered as a bump from the other ball. Here are some of my ideas. The promptings of the Holy Spirit to motivate one to particular action or past experience when we made a mistake and we know what type of situations might tempt us and we avoid those temptations, or perhaps someone else’s example or words may inspire us to positive activity. Feel free to add more too both lists with the class or family members. You might include the examples of prophets and religious people in the Scriptures, and even people in your community, that displayed honor and integrity. They might even be in your congregation.

You might even consider how you live your life and give an example provides a bump to someone else’s ball. Christ encourages us to be more like him. Sometimes Christ hand might be behind store in the role of home ball to make a positive impact on someone else’s ball.

Please feel free to expand on this idea in whatever direction you feel would be appropriate.

If you would like to share some additional ideas on this topic, please provide your input in the comment section of this blog.

No matter what genera of fiction or nonfiction you write this would be worth the time and fiancés of any writer.  Melva

http://ltue.net/JoinLTUE

Melva

When people are involved in promoting someone in a campaign, it involves a lot of camping yourself out on street corners waving signs with names of it.  The candidate themselves are always on the GO Go Go to get people to meet and vote for them.

Thus CAMPaiGn.

Good: Campaign

Bad: campain

If you have a better way to remember the AIGN in campAIGN, please share it. Thanks.

Things I’ve learned about tax deed investing.

1. Property assessment – check with the county assessor (especially for smaller counties) or an assistance assessor.

-save possibilities on your PC and folders that hold info of properties you’re interested in.

Properly assessor usually has the longest history of that property and justification behind the price of the sale of that property.

2. Tax history and property record – treasurer (their section of the web site)

-sales history. See what the property has sold for in the past. Bring up a copy of the deed when the transaction took place.

-ownership history.

3. Check out the pictures or images of property – how recent?

-hire a college a student to take pictures by putting an ad in Craig’s list or college web site.

-do a comparative market analysis. Finding comparable property and see their worth.

4. Set in advance exit strategy.

-If pay $2k more than you are likely to get a better place.

-The end objective will influence how you invest.

-short term investing= you may have already contacted a possible investor. Else you’ll have to market the property.

-long term investment that are closest to being rentable and best opportunity for long term investment.

5. Maximum bid based of % of estimated value

To set your maximum bid.

Assessed value $130K

Opening bid $16K

Bid to value ratio 12%

Exit strategy – long or short

Maximum Bid – Max bid to value ratio:

Starts at 12%, max or 20% or 25%

$24K to 32K max bid.

-can often tell if it’s an old lien if the money is high and the property is worth $500.  Opening bid amount to assessed value. County register will have the record on the property.

6. Title search: it’s an ownership history on a property. Tell if loans on the property, liens, extra owners, Basic cost about $30-$50.

-naco.org: gives county info.

-Zillow: property evaluation site.

-a google map lets you see property

-get a deposit in a county you’re interested and start doing bids.